Box Office Review: American Teens Are Morons
Will This Go to Trial and Move to L.A., too? BART Cop Smashes Drunk Guy's Head through Window
Books for L.A. Nerds: Saints of California
Map of the Day: Outdoor Skating Rinks in Los Angeles
Shag's New Show 'Autumn's Come Undone' at the Corey Helford Gallery
A Recession Obsession is, 1) a meal so great that it stays in your mind long after digestion's end, and, 2) plays nice with your sensitive wallet. Is there a better place than Los Angeles to eat a wide variety of amazing food that so happens to be inexpensive? Probably not. We're as lucky as we are well fed. We last obsessed over Greasy Comfortable Nostalgia and Tweetin' Mobile Chinese Tacos. Today, we obsess...
TCBY, or The Country's Best Yogurt, was once huge. All of a sudden "frozen yogurt" and "phenomenon" were used in the same sentence. It was nationwide Pinkberry-like insanity which predated Pinkberry. Then, of course, Pinkberry found hip neighborhoods. Today, we're right in the middle of Frozen Yogurt 3.0, and this model's an upgrade.
Menchie's and Yogurtland have stepped it up the frozen yogurt game a considerable notch. They acknowledge that their lone product (don't say "froyo" please) is dessert. And dessert should be gluttonous -- not just some light calorie snack with half of a diced strawberry atop it. (At least, that's the way this Recession Obsessionist sees it.)
These places aren't that expensive, but as you pay by weight, that's in your hands. What is $3.50 for you, may be $6.50 for your hungrier eating-partner. So, yes, Menchie's and Yogurtland are LAist's latest Recession Obsession.
The Real-Deal Post-Meal
Their yogurt has some rich heft. The good news is this creaminess comes in flavors more than chocolate, vanilla and green tea. (I'll stick to drinking my green tea, thank you.)
Yogurtland serves flavors like New York Cheesecake, Cake Batter, Pumpkin Pie, Double Cookie 'n Cream, Toasted Coconut, Nutter Butter, Root Beer and more. And Menchie's has Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, Cappuccino, Island Banana, Heath Bar, Irish Mint, Chocolate Cake and more.
See what I mean? Delicious awesomeness.
Then come the toppings. These guys don't mess around, and as it's all self-serve, so it's up to you whether or not you will.
I start with mochi. My trick is to pour a half-cup of yogurt, add a layer of mochi, and return to my yogurting. Then later, I'm treated with forgotten-about chewy, Japanese sweet treats.
In addition to getting international in their toppings, they have everything you can imagine, and a few things for which you've unknowingly longed. Cheesecake bites for one.
If you're concerned with medaling in the Caloric Density Olympics, both offer a variety of squirtable toppings for which to drench the valleys of your creation. Hot chocolate and the like. To quote the guy in my building that didn't know what to make of my Yogurtland creation:
"What is that? It looks good."
- Both Yogurtland and Menchie's have various Southern California locations.
Do you dig Frozen Yogurt 3.0? Comment Below!
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Menchies? PInkberry?
They're copycats!
Best frozen yogart in the entire southland (and WORLD) can be found at 21 Choices in Old Town Pasadena!
They opened a new location in August at University Village @ SC that became a campus sensation within 3 days of openning.
Without tasting 21 choices and giving a review of frozen yogarts is like reviewing burgers and claiming the Big Mac the best without tasting an In N Out burger!
Yogart?
Is that anything like yogurt?
Don't bogart that yogart trojie!
jrb feel good... you made me laugh with that joke.
Glad to hear it. We all need to laugh more.
bro the nilla wafer yogurt at yogurtland is amazing! been dying to try the tart key lime at menchies, too, but missed it last time around.
This explains the previously inexplicable late night lines at Yogurtland on La Brea. It looks like Pinks every time I drive by. Or like Pinkberry lines looked back when they only had the Weho location.
Both are fucking amazing and addicting, but I am a Menchies fan, personally. I usually spend from $2 to $2.50 and am totally satisfied.
wihtout the slightest mention of 21 choices, and knowing that menchies got the idea from 21 choices (interview the couple who started the franchise), I'm of the opinion that LAist gets paid for recession obsession and reviews.
So how much did menchies and pinkberry pay?
The reviews are good because the pay is just right?
Yes because all those mom and poop latin americann/asian spots covered in the RO's have marketing teams that pay LAist to promote their restaurants.
Stupid...
And if you don't live there, who wants to go to Pasadena to eat food? Culinary wasteland.
trojan is right.
until you can go back in time and review the very first establishment to ever combine delicious toppings and frozen yogurt you have no business writing reviews.
if you can't do that, i'm willing to accept a list of all previous frozen yogurt establishments that have ever existed, so that i know whether the idea is original or not. after all, as food ideas are copied from restaurant to restaurant, the quality of said food declines exponentially.
nice sarcasm.
But this site BLOWS chunks of ASS, Half-ASS.
And I enjoy coming on here and pointing out the half ass nature of it and the political tilt of it.
I've never seen a line of 30 out the door of Pinkberry or Menchies. But I see it all the time at 21 choices.
Either this review was half ass, caleb didn't want try to find the "best" frozen yogourt, or it's an easy way to make money off the establishments being reviews.
I like 21 choices because it's fresh and more tasty than menchies and pinkberry.
But the reviewer probably wouldn't know that.
Sorry trojan...but you've obviously never been to Menchie's Valley Village on a Saturday night.
A line of 30 people would be a slow night.
I've certainly seen a line out the door at Yogurtland on LaBrea.
and i've definitely seen lines outside of pinkberry locations, including that one in pasadena near 21 choices. (21 choices? sounds like a ripoff of baskin robbins' 31 flavors to me!)
anyway, i don't think caleb ever stated that either one of these establishments was the best for frozen yogurt, he was just pointing out that they offer cheap, delicious treats. it's pretty absurd to expect reviewers to visit every single frozen yogurt store/stand/cart before writing a single review.
Can you get a $2.50 order that satisfies you at 21 Choices?
Anyone tried Blizzberry? It's really good too.
I love Menchie's but now its seems as though you can hardly get through the front door anymore.
The lines get ridiculously long and the way people hang out around the entranceway like zombiefied, yogurt-eating crackheads just annoys me to no end.
You'd think they were giving away free iPhones the way people flock into that place.
When the crowds at Menchie's are too much, I head over to Pagliacci's on Coldwater. Not quite as good, but you avoid the headaches of 20-somethings endlessly milling about "tasting" free samples of the day.
Christ....just pick one already!!!
Plus, Yogurtland doesn't taste like a yeast infection! (Yes, Pinkberry is disgusting.)
IcePan is also pretty good.
What, you whippersnappers!? No shout out to Penguin's for its ancestral place in frozen yogurt history? For a while in the '80s/'90s they were everywhere, on par with if not bigger than TCBY.
Yeah...back when I lived in Oakland, I used to frequent the Penguin's on Piedmont Avenue all the time.
The Taro flavor at Yogurtland might just be the greatest thing in the world. Their pistachio is also great. I usually just eat it without toppings but occasionally throw in some crushed graham crackers, and a bit of chopped peanuts. I usually get out for $1.75-2.50
Will have to get around to trying Menchies sometime.
Yogurt Haven in Eagle Rock wasn't too bad either, the one time I had it